Friday, March 13, 2009

Lords of the Underground dropped this classic LP in the dead center of the second golden age of hip-hop. Unlike many of the great albums that came out in that vibrant period, Lords of the Underground were able to capitalize on the rising popularity and growing interest in hip-hop. One of the factors that helped the Lords' success (their debut went platinum!) was having living legend Marley Marl helm the production. Marley had started the legendary Cold Chillin' label in the mid-80s and was the man responsible for many classics of the genre (MC Shan "Down By Law", Big Daddy Kane "Long Live The Kane", and Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's "Road To The Riches", to name but just a few). By the mid-90s he was producing and remixing tracks by TLC and En Vogue, which didn't exactly help his street cred any. But by 1994 he discovered the Lords, helped pave them a path to hip-hop platinum, and .

The Lords themselves were voracious MCs who could spit so fast on the mic that it was hard to hear the lines the first few times around. Marley helped back these talented MCs with some of his best production since his Cold Chillin' days. There were so many great tracks on this debut that the Lords released 6 singles, all of which charted on Billboard.

The trio would go on to make another album, 1994's "Keepers of the Funk", which wouuld go gold. The groups disbanded a few years later only to reunite in 1999 with the dismal "Resurrection."

Fun fact: DoltAll appeared in the final scene of the final episode of the Sopranos. He was one of the many figures that entered the diner, looming as a potential threat to Tony Soprano.